Scouting Mission to Russia (2012)

The publishing market in Russia ranks third in the world in new title output with 125,000 new books released each year, among which 14,000 titles translated from English, French, and other foreign languages. In 2011 Russia was guest of honour at book fairs in London and Turin, and in 2012 it was featured at BookExpo America.

What promise does this market of 142.5 million people hold for Canadian publishers?

Livres Canada Books organized a scouting mission to determine the Russian market’s potential in terms of rights sales and distribution. A delegation of three publishers together with the executive director of Livres Canada Books traveled to Russia from 26 to 30 November 2012 where it met with key stakeholders – associations, publishers, booksellers – and collected reliable information on this market. The mission’s report looks at the publishing industry in general and focuses specifically on trade publishing, children’s books and scholarly publishing.